MICHAEL BRIGGS

Michael Briggs first got a taste of the business world when he and a friend formed a lawn care service in fourth grade.

Though raking leaves was a humble beginning, Mr. Briggs said the experience instilled the entrepreneurial spirit that's within him.

Business owner, executive, manager — Mr. Briggs, 39, has worn all the hats. At present, Mr. Briggs is a vice president for Acxiom Corp.'s division in Independence, which offers employment screening and risk mitigation services around the world. Since Mr. Briggs came on board about seven years ago, the division has doubled its revenue.

“Mike is probably one of, if not the most, competent person I've come across,” said Mike Cool, president of Acxiom's local division.

Mr. Briggs came to Acxiom when he met Mr. Cool while waiting for a flight seven years ago. Mr. Cool said he immediately was struck by Mr. Briggs' energy, and a few months later he was on the team at Acxiom, a company based in Little Rock, Ark., that is a provider of information management and marketing services.

In the mid-1990s, Mr. Briggs helped buy a struggling wireless retailer that had less than $100,000 in annual sales, but eventually grew into a multilocation enterprise with more than $1 million in annual sales before it was sold in 2001.

But for Mr. Briggs, it is failure as much as success that has shaped his career. In 2000, he helped start Nexi.com, a high-speed Internet provider, which nearly folded and was sold to a competitor a year later.

“I just don't give up,” he said. “It sounds ... mundane to say that, but after these dot-coms closed up, it was a blow to anybody's ego not to have a job. But it's one thing to sit there and wallow in your own sorrow rather than do something about it.”

Lately, Mr. Briggs has worked as an adviser for CitizenGroove, a local company financed by North Coast Angel Fund that provides software allowing musicians, particularly those beyond the nation's borders, to audition for conservatories or other parties through a web portal without the hassle of sending DVDs.

He has been instrumental in helping the company identify new markets, according to Todd Federman, the angel fund's executive director who also serves on CitizenGroove's board.

“Mike is very action-oriented,” Mr. Federman said. “He does a lot more doing than talking.”